User Guide

Using AnyMarker

AnyMarker connects to OBS Studio over its built-in WebSocket server and lets you tap custom chapter markers while you record - then bakes them into your MP4, M4V, or MOV as real chapters the moment OBS finishes writing the file. This guide covers setup, recording with markers, presets, embedding, and troubleshooting.

macOS & Windows OBS Studio 28.0+ No Lua script or dock Works fully offline

01 · Get Started

Overview

OBS's own chapter markers give you one generic marker type. AnyMarker replaces that with as many named markers as you want - 📸 Highlight, 💀 Death, 🎙️ Sponsor Read - organized into presets you can switch per game, show, or project.

AnyMarker runs as a small companion window (the dock) alongside OBS. While you record, tap a marker button and AnyMarker writes a timestamp into a plain .txt file next to your video. When the recording stops, AnyMarker turns that file into real chapter metadata inside the video itself, so anyone scrubbing the finished file - YouTube, VLC, a video editor - can jump straight to the moment.

Get Started

Screenshots

Captured from the running app, not mockups.

AnyMarker dock showing OBS Status, a Start Recording button & Marker Buttons
The DockOBS status, the recording timer, and marker buttons for the current preset - this is the window you keep open while you record.
Marker buttons for an Elden Ring preset: Boss, Dungeon, Talisman, Spell, NPC, Ashen Remnant, Weapon, Armor.
Chapter MarkersButtons for an Elden Ring preset - one preset per game keeps the buttons relevant to what you're recording.
The Modify Preset modal listing presets named default, tutorial, Gothic Remake, Streaming, Black Flag Resynced, and Sand Land, each with Rename and Delete buttons.
Modify PresetSwitch, rename, or delete a preset. Built-in presets are protected from deletion.
OBS Websocket Settings in the Settings page, showing Server URL and Server Password fields with Test and Save Connection buttons.
SettingsOBS Websocket Settings - paste in the URL and password from OBS's Show Connect Info.
The Embed Chapters card expanded, with Choose Video and Choose Markers dropboxes above an Embed button.
Embed ChaptersManual embed - pick any video and its .txt marker file, from any session.
A plain-text file named with a date and time, listing marker lines such as 00:01:32 Cutscene, 00:08:41 Skull, and 00:38:17 Achievement.
.txt ExportThe plain-timestamp file AnyMarker writes next to your video.
The dock with a Streaming preset loaded, showing marker buttons including Starting Soon and BRB.
The DockSame window, a different preset - Streaming, for going live.

Get Started

Requirements

  • OBS Studio 28.0 or later, with its built-in WebSocket server turned on - Tools → WebSocket Server Settings → Enable WebSocket server.
  • macOS (Apple Silicon) or Windows 10/11 (x64).
  • Nothing to install inside OBS - no Lua script, no Browser Dock. AnyMarker bundles its chapter tools, so you don't need to install anything else either.

AnyMarker only talks to OBS over a local connection on your machine. Recording, marking, embedding, and licensing all work with no internet connection - you only need one to check for app updates.

Get Started

Setup Wizard

The first time you open AnyMarker, a three-step wizard walks you through connecting OBS, choosing how chapters get embedded, and starting your trial or activating a key.

1

Connect to OBS Studio

In OBS, open Tools → WebSocket Server Settings → Show Connect Info and copy the Server URL and Password shown there.

Paste them into the wizard - Server URL defaults to ws://localhost:4455, and Password is optional if you haven't set one in OBS.

2

Chapter Embed Setup

Leave the engine on Automatic - AnyMarker picks the right tool for each file. Both are bundled; no extra install.

Keep .txt chapter files after embedding is on by default, so the plain-text marker file next to your video sticks around even after chapters are baked in.

3

You're All Set

Start your 7-day free trial - no card required - or enter a license key (XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX) and hit Activate.

Finish stays disabled until you're either trialing or licensed.

Need to change your OBS connection or embed settings later? That's the Settings page. To re-run the wizard itself, open the File menu and choose Run Setup Wizard.

02 · Using AnyMarker

The Dock

The dock is the small window you keep open while you record. It has four cards, top to bottom.

🔌OBS Status

Shows the live connection state to OBS. If AnyMarker gives up retrying after a dropped connection, a Reconnect button appears in the header so you can retry by hand.

⏺️Recording

Reads Not Recording when idle. Start Recording starts (and stops) the OBS recording, and the timer counts elapsed time while it runs.

🏷️Chapter Markers

Tap a preset button while recording to drop a marker at that timestamp, or type into Custom marker… and press Add Marker for a one-off label.

✨Embed Chapters

Collapsed by default. Expand it to manually embed chapters into any video - see Embedding Chapters below.

The Chapter Markers card's menu also opens three tools: Edit Markers, Switch Preset, and Modify Preset - covered next.

Using AnyMarker

Marker Presets

A preset is a named set of marker buttons. Keep one for each game, show, or project and switch between them in a click.

Edit Markers

Opens the button list for your current preset. Drag a row by its grip handle to reorder it, click Add Marker to append a new one, and edit any button inline with an emoji picker plus a text field. Nothing saves until you hit Save.

Modify Preset

Lists all your presets. Click any row to switch to it - that saves and closes automatically. Each row also has Rename and Delete (built-in presets can't be deleted). Create New Preset adds a new preset seeded with two default buttons, 📸 Highlight and 😂 Funny, and drops you straight into renaming it.

Every action in Modify Preset saves right away - there's no separate Save step like in Edit Markers.

Using AnyMarker

Embedding Chapters

Markers you tap during recording live in a plain .txt timestamp file next to your video. Embedding is the step that turns that file into chapter metadata baked directly into the video.

Auto-embed

When Auto Embedding is on (in Settings), AnyMarker waits a few seconds after OBS reports the recording has stopped - giving OBS time to finish writing the file - then embeds automatically. AnyMarker only deletes the .txt sidecar afterward if you set Keep .txt File After Embed to Delete; the default is to keep it.

Manual embed

Expand the dock's Embed Chapters card, use Choose Video… and Choose Markers… to pick any video and its matching .txt file - it doesn't have to be from your current session - then click Embed. Manual embed never deletes the .txt file.

Choosing an engine

Automatic mp4chaps MP4Box

Chapters are written directly into your file's metadata - the video itself is never rewritten, so embedding finishes in well under a second whether the recording is 100 MB or 20 GB, and it needs no extra disk space. Automatic uses mp4chaps where possible, which adds chapters that QuickTime Player, VLC, Plex and Infuse can all read; it falls back to MP4Box for unusual files. Leave it on Automatic unless you have a specific reason not to.

MKV is not supported - the format can't carry these chapters. Record in Hybrid MP4 (OBS 30.2+), which is crash-safe and works with chapters.

03 · Configure

Settings

Open Settings from the dock's menu. It's split into three groups.

SectionControls
OBS Websocket Settings Server URL, Server Password, Test the connection, Save Connection.
Chapter Embedding Auto Embedding (Enable/Disable), Keep .txt File After Embed (Keep/Delete), Engine (Automatic, mp4chaps, or MP4Box), Save Embed Settings.
Display Language Changes AnyMarker's UI language.
About Links to the AnyMarker website and a Report a Problem link.

Settings requires an active trial or license to open - if yours has lapsed, save your connection details after reactivating.

Configure

License & Trial

AnyMarker is a one-time $14.99 purchase after a 7-day free trial - no subscription, no card required to start the trial.

  • One trial per machine. This is a soft check meant to discourage casual resets, not a strict security boundary.
  • A license key isn't locked to one computer, but you move it to a new one from your Polar account (the customer portal you get after purchase).
  • Moving a key off an old machine never resets a trial you already used there.
  • If your trial lapses with no license active, AnyMarker shows a lock screen with Activate and Buy - no trial button there, since a trial can only be started once, from the wizard.

04 · Help

Troubleshooting

No plugins or scripts. AnyMarker talks to OBS over its built-in WebSocket server (OBS 28+) - just turn that on in OBS's own settings.
Confirm the WebSocket server is enabled in OBS, and that the Server URL and Password in AnyMarker's Settings match exactly what OBS shows under Tools → WebSocket Server Settings → Show Connect Info.
Auto-embed waits for OBS to finish writing the file before it runs. If the file was moved or converted, or OBS crashed before finalizing it, use manual embed in the dock with the saved .txt marker file instead.
Yes - recording, marking, embedding, starting a trial, and activating a key all work with just a local connection to OBS. The only thing that needs the internet is checking for app updates.
See Files & Logs below for exact paths on each platform.
No. You free up a license key from an old machine through your Polar account, not inside AnyMarker - and either way, once a trial starts on a machine, that machine remembers it for good.
Open the File menu and choose Run Setup Wizard - on both macOS and Windows. Your marker presets are kept - the wizard only touches connection and embed settings.

Help

Files & Logs

AnyMarker keeps your connection settings separate from your marker presets, so resetting one never wipes the other.

FileContents
~/.anymarker_config.jsonOBS connection, embed preferences, license state.
~/.anymarker_preset.jsonYour marker presets and buttons.

Log files

macOS~/Library/Logs/AnyMarker/app.log
Windows%LOCALAPPDATA%\AnyMarker\logs\app.log

Once app.log passes 2 MB, AnyMarker rotates it: the current file becomes app.log.1, the old app.log.1 becomes app.log.2, and AnyMarker drops whatever was in app.log.2. That caps total log storage at roughly 6 MB.

On macOS, crash reports (if AnyMarker ever quits unexpectedly) land in ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/anymarker-*.ips - worth attaching alongside app.log when reporting a problem.